5 Ways to Get This Look: Summer Porch

One of the iconic scenes of summer involves a porch, a glass of lemonade, and a comfy place to curl up with a good book. There’s something incredibly appealing about big, wide covered porches that are decorated with white wicker and colorful pillows. The appeal seems to be almost universal–just check out how many pins come up when you search Pinterest for “pretty porch.” Covered porches always come up in the conversation when my friends and I discuss our dream houses. Speaking of dreams, isn’t this porch I found at Georgiana Design (from Traditional Home) dreamy?

When it comes to porches like this one, I really think it’s the concept of an outdoor room that appeals to us. (Especially in spring and early summer, when we want to soak up as much of the warm sun and fresh breezes as we can). A space out of doors that offers the comfort of a living room–well, what’s not to love about that?

Lucky for those of us who don’t own vintage farmhouses with gigantic porches, it’s still possible to create the impression of an outdoor room on a deck, patio, or lawn. I’ve searched the internet to find tutorials for five of the elements of this porch. Now it’s up to you to decide how to use them in your outdoor decor.

1. Pendant Lantern Lights

Scared off by the retail price of lights like these? There are some alternatives, you just have to keep your eye out at garage sales and thrift stores. All About Vignettes found a collection of pendants at an estate sale. Color wrong? These are easy to spray paint, too.

2. Topiary Bushes

320 Sycamore tells how easy it is to find topiary bushes at discount stores like WalMart. You can read lots of tips there for finding, caring for, and potting topiaries of your own.

3. Stump Table

Stump tables have become a decorating trend. 17 Apart shares a detailed tutorial for making one of your own.

4. Outdoor Sectional

Who says everyone has to sit outside in plastic lawnchairs? Here’s an amazing step-by-step tutorial from Accessorize and Organize explaining how they built their outdoor sectional.

5. Pretty Pillows

You know how much I love pillows! They are honestly a big part of my decorating wardrobe. Enjoy the tutorial at Lovesome for envelope pillows (perfect for outdoors since the outer “envelope” can come off for washing).

So, what do you think? Are you ready to tackle one or more of these projects to get the look of a summertime porch for less?